Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? — Matthew 6:26
I have no scientific proof of this but, based on personal experience, we grow fonder of birds the older we get.
During the recent Arctic blast/snowmaggedon, I noticed bird tracks in the snow on the deck. Dutifully, I threw out birdseed. A menagerie of feathered friends visited, such as the three you see here.
I think older people, as bodies slow down a bit, become birdwatchers because birds recall us to the basic, simple, beauty of life and the limitless care of God. Really, how else could these creatures survive a foot of snow and sub-zero temperatures? Yet here they were, hopping around, without a care in the world. And Jesus’ Father fed them, probably smiling and being proud of them while doing so.
Jesus, of course, taught this. He never said that genetically and evolutionarily they evolved from dinosaurs and adapted digestive systems to maximize metabolic processes to their most efficient state while growing thermally-conducive feathers to maximize heat retention. No, that’s not found in Matthew 6. Jesus just said, “Your heavenly Father feeds them.”
Actually, people of any age need to get back to this simplicity. Truly, if the Father feeds the small and vulnerable, the Father tends to us, especially when we are at our smallest and most vulnerable.
How does the Father provide seeds for you on a snowy day?